ABSTRACT
Introduction: Premature infants require specialized care, and nurses need to have specific skills and knowledge to provide this care effectively. Objective: To evaluate the impact of an on-the-job training program on the improvement of nurses' knowledge and practice related to creation of a healing environment and clustering nursing procedures. Methods: From January to April 2022, a study utilizing a one-group pre- and post-test design was conducted at NICUs in governmental hospitals. The study participants involved 80 nurses working in these NICUs. Researchers used predesigned questionnaire and checklist practice to collect the data pre and post the intervention. Results: 37.5% of the participants were aged between 25 and less than 30 years, with a mean age of 28.99 ± 7.43 years. Additionally, 73.7% of the nurses were female, with a mean experience of 9.45 ± 3.87 years. Prior to the intervention, the study found that a majority of the nurses (62.4%) demonstrated poor knowledge. However, after the intervention, a significant improvement was observed, with 60.0% of the nurses demonstrated good knowledge. Likewise, prior to the intervention, the study revealed that the majority of the nurses (83.8%) exhibited incompetent practice. However, post-intervention, a substantial improvement was observed, with 81.3% of the nurses demonstrated competent practice. Conclusion: On-the-job training had significant improvements in nurses' knowledge and practices regarding applying healing environments and clustering nursing care. On-the-job training is suggested as an adaptable, effective and low-cost technique to train nurses. To maintain the improvement achieved, ongoing instruction, feedback, assessment/reassessment, and monitoring are encouraged.
ABSTRACT
Our study aimed to assess the effects of creating a healing environment and clustering nursing care on premature infants' vital signs, pain, and sleeping. The study had an experimental research design for the control and study group, each with 53 premature infants. We collected the data through the Vital Signs Sheet, Premature Infant Pain Profile, and Neonatal behavioral state. We used T-tests and chi-square tests to assess the differences between groups. There was a highly statistically significant difference between the study and control groups concerning respiration (p-value<0.01) and heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and O2 saturation (p-value<0.05). 90.6% of participants in the study group had a mild total premature infant pain profile, while 37.7% of the control group had a moderate total premature infant pain profile score. Applying a healing environment and clustering nursing care significantly improved respiration, heart rate, oxygen saturation, and systolic blood pressure. Furthermore, it increased sleep time and decreased wake state and pain score.
